Today's run was without a doubt the most beautiful run I've been on!!! It's our long run for the week and a friend of ours (Dawn and mine) said we should try running around Rampart Reservoir for our 12 miler. So, we blissfully headed up there at 6:00 am thinking that we'd be home by 10:00 a.m. HAHAHAHAHA!!! We finally got home at NOON! The drive was twice as long as we expected - an hour instead of half an hour - and the trail was very, very difficult!!! True, it was the most beautiful location to run, with pines, aspens, wildflowers, glistening blue reservoir, and the peace and beauty of the Colorado Rockies .... BUT .... we hadn't anticipated: 1) Being 2500 feet higher in elevation than usual would make it harder 2) We didn't bring enough water (considering the elevation and difficulty) 3) The constant hilly terrain which, though beautiful, was exhausting! 4) Both of us have had a stomach flu followed by Fast Sunday, so we hadn't eaten and drunk enough in the last 3 days 5) WE DIED!!!! My garmin kept telling me that I had a weak GPS signal all through the run, and by the end, our Garmin's were different by 0.7 of a mile!! But just for interest sake, here's a rundown of our average pace, which tells the story of our demise (hee,hee): 1 - 10:28 fresh out of the gates, nice downhill, feeling great! 2 - 10:54 3 - 13:16 the hills begin, but still doing great and enjoying the scenery. 4 - 13:22 5 - 13:29 6 - 13:28 7 - 16:35 starting to walk on a few uphills 8 - 19:21 (I'm not sure why this one is so out of whack.) 9 - 13:03 crossing the dam - flat, but I was seriously running out of steam. 10 - 16:43 more walking, starting to feel exhausted 11 - 16:35 absolutely exhausted, out of water and bloks 12 - 17:52 wishing for death to come (hee,hee) 13 - 19:43 (walking to the car - actually a mile and a half) We were so dead by here. Even though we had run out of water about 2 miles ago, the only thing that kept one foot moving in front of the other was the vision of water bottles in her car and a soft seat to sit on. Possibly the most difficult run I've ever experienced. Both of us really felt it in our legs - maybe from the constant hilly terrain and roots and rocks to avoid - but we were expecting it to be the hardest on our cardio. I've been exhausted all day today, but the only soreness I've felt is behind my right knee - weird place, huh? Anyway, there's the story of my first 12 miler - I decided while running that I would SHOOT myself if I ever considered running a marathon. ; ) | 